What is content decay?

Content decay is a useful SEO term for a page that loses search visibility or organic traffic over time. A decline can come from outdated content, stronger competitors, changing search intent, SERP changes, technical problems, seasonality or a different query mix.

How this GSC content decay checker works

Paste a current-period and previous-period Google Search Console CSV. The tool aggregates page-level clicks, impressions and average position, then flags pages that meet your selected click-decline threshold. You can change the minimum previous-click filter to reduce noise.

Why compare two GSC exports?

A single Search Console export shows what is happening now. Comparing two periods helps you find pages that changed and gives you a practical review queue. This is more useful than calling every old page “decayed” based only on its publication date.

What should you check after finding a declining page?

Open the page and review the queries behind the change. Check search intent, content freshness, title and description, internal links, indexing, canonical signals, competitors, seasonality and major SERP changes. A traffic decline is a signal to investigate, not a reason to delete a page.

FAQ

Does a 20% traffic drop mean content decay?
No. The tool uses the decline as a filter. You still need to check why the page lost visibility.

Can I use this without connecting Google Search Console?
Yes. Export the Performance data and paste the CSVs here. The analysis runs in your browser.

Which GSC columns should I export?
Page and Clicks are required. Impressions and Position make the diagnosis much more useful.

Should I delete pages that lost traffic?
No. First check whether the page still serves a useful search intent and whether the decline is caused by a temporary or technical issue.